The Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness is a nonprofit research, education, and policy organization founded by Michael Porter and based at Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts. Our mission is to advance scholarship; develop practical, research-based frameworks; and educate and advise leaders and policymakers.

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Essential Reading

In health care, the days of business as usual are over. Around the world, every health care system is struggling with rising costs and uneven quality despite the hard work of well-intentioned, well-trained clinicians. Health care leaders and policy makers have tried countless incremental fixes—attacking fraud, reducing errors, enforcing practice guidelines, making patients better “consumers,” implementing electronic medical records—but none have had much impact. It’s time for a fundamentally new strategy.

Competitive advantage. The value chain. Five forces. Industry structure. Differentiation. Relative cost. If you want to understand how companies achieve and sustain competitive success, Michael Porter's frameworks are the foundation. But while everyone in business may know Porter's name, many managers misunderstand and misuse his concepts. Understanding Michael Porter sets the record straight, providing a concise, accessible summary of Porter's revolutionary thinking.